Entry #3: Doing Life to the Music of Rafi

Visual rhetoric is a fancy way of describing how we feel when we see certain things. Just like smelling a freshly cooked meal at your grandmother's house can cause you to feel warmth and acceptance, we respond similarly to things that we see. In this blog, I want to talk about how visual rhetoric impacts our day-to-day life! I was surprised to discover that visual rhetoric impacts my commute to work, my choice for lunch, the music I listen to, the video games I'm drawn to, the computer I use for homework, and the way I feel when I walk in the house.

Think about it: my drive to work is bombarded by billboards. Those billboards contain pictures, colors, fonts, statements, sometimes no words at all. The design of the billboards is to capture as much of my attention as possible in the shortest amount of time. Maybe you've been instructed to "Call Rafi!" before!

Let's face it, rear-ending someone on the highway is not a good thing. You feel bad after hitting someone. Because collisions don't happen very often, you're confused on what to do next. What you really need is a warm smile from a man who understands collisions and will provide you with professional service. The billboard demands that I simply "Call Rafi!" 

The font emphasizes yelling and command. There's no other help offered but a phone number to call. Calling the telephone number will put me in touch with a calm, happy, professional, young man who knows what to do! The color of the billboard--stop sign-red--tells me to stop what I'm doing and just call the man!

Think about it, every driver is hit with hundreds of these "visual tips" on a simple, 15-minute commute. 

In my quiet moments when I'm thinking about my life, who I am, who God is, and why God matters, I am also impacted by visual rhetoric. As you know from my previous blogs, I really like worship music. Musicians use visual rhetoric before even singing a single word! I just glanced at an album cover from one of my favorite artists. The visuals on the cover told me what the album was going to be about.

 

The lack of words illustrate silence and being free from distractions. The casual dress of the man who is kneeling tells me that I can come to God just as I am. The room is clean and simple. The room tells me that I can encounter God in the quiet places of my own home. The image colors and tone tell me that encountering God at the cross is the warmest place on earth. The variety of crosses hanging on the wall reminds me that Jesus should be at the center of my worship and that Jesus is available to you no matter your style. 

In conclusion, visual rhetoric reminds me to slow down and think about what is being communicated through the use of graphics. Visual rhetoric also reminds me to evaluate what is presented to me in graphics as much as what is presented to me in words!